Ulok

Ulok is a native Martian (Nemukik) language spoken on Nesak (Tharsis) in the late 22nd century. It is one of the two major Equatorial Martian languages along with Siye.

Ulok
Pronounced:	['u.rok]
Timeline and Universe:	EJL Universe, Late 22nd century CE
Species:	Indigenous Martian Humanoid
Spoken:	Mars
Total speakers:	10,000,000 (est.)
Writing system:	syllabics
Genealogy:	Ulok
Typology
Morphological type:	Agglutinating
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Accusative
Basic word order:	SOV
Credits
Creator:	Linguarum Magister

Orthography

Consonants

/m/ [m]

/n/ [n]

/p/ [p]

/t/ [t]

/k/ [k]

/s/ [s]

/l/ [r]

/w/ [w]

/y/ [j]

/a/ [a]

/e/ [e]

/i/ [i]

/o/ [o]

/u/ [u]

/ah/ [à] /Vh/ (where V stands for any vowel) is an orthographic representation of a low tone. It seems to be derived from an earlier combination of a vowel and the archaic phoneme /k/ [q]

Tones

Ulok has two level tones – high and low. An Ulok word that does not contain an /h/ as the syllable coda begins as high tone. If there is a syllable in the word that does contain an /h/ as the syllable coda, that syllable and all following syllables are low tone. If the first syllable of the word contains an /h/ as the syllable coda, the word is entirely low tone. The drop from high tone to low tone can only occur once per word.

Epenthetic Vowels

If a suffix consisting of a single consonant follows another consonant, Ulok inserts a epenthetic vowel. This vowel is almost always based on the closest preceding vowel.

Kehtis kehmeyeses Nesakasas kehti-s kehmeye-s-s Nesa-k-s-s

Nouns

Nominal Suffixes

Ulok nouns have two genders: animate and inanimate. The most peculiar feature of Ulok nouns is this: nouns do not take suffixes for cases, but rather for person and number. Although this feature is more intimately associated with verbs in many languages, it is critical to note that the addition of a person/number suffix to a noun root does not turn it into a verb. The homophony of the nominalizing suffix /-p/ and the third singular animate /-p/ suggests the reverse!

Nominal Suffixes, Animate Gender

Person/Number Suffix First Singular -n Second Singular -t Third Singular -p, /-0/ [?] Plural -s

/-p/ is the most common suffix for the third singular; /-0/ is reserved for the loanwords. The /-0/ suffix is the orthographic form; a study of Ulok phonetics indicates that the suffix is a glottal stop.

Examples: kehmeyen I, a king kehmeyet you, a king kehmeyep he, a king kehmeyes they, the kings (you, kings/ we, kings) kehtis gods

Ulok inanimates, unlike the animates, do not distinguish person or number.

Suffix Function -k Most common general inanimate suffix 0 Second most common general inanimate suffix -k(u) Forms abstract nouns (geograpnical and and truly abstract) -o Inanimate suffix for singulative nouns (These nouns are grammatically inanimate, but may be semantically animate) -p Nominalizing suffix

The /-0/ suffix for the verbs is, unlike the animate /-0/ suffix, a true zero-marked suffix. The suffixes -k and -k(u), although semantically distinct, often look identical. The proper name of the language is Ulok, and the name of the territory where it is spoken Uloku, but most of the time the term Ulok is used for both concepts. The Ulos (speakers of Ulok) are not the language-obsessives that their Siye-speaking neighbors are.

unutik temple (unuti-k) loyihnek brick (-k) nonu town/land (-0) kemeyeku kingdom/kingship (-ku) kehmomo children (-o) wamip kehtisip greatest of the gods (-p)

Noun Phrases

The noun phrase in Ulok exhibits this feature: the possessor of a possessum-possessor noun phrase acquires the person/number suffix of the possessum as well as its own.

no kehmeyen Nesakan. no kehmeye-n Nesakan 1S king-1 Tharsis-INAN-V-1 I, the king of Tharsis.

kehmeyes Nesakas kehmeye-s Nesakas king-PL Nesa-INAN-V-PL the kings of Tharsis

Possessive pronouns use the same construction: kehtip nop kehti-p no-p god-3 1S-3 my god

This construction can be extended to a three-noun set:

losotok kehtip nopok losoto-k kehti-p no-p-o-k throne-hall-INAN god-3 1S-3-V-INAN the throne-hall of my god

numemeku kehmomo nonaoku numeme-ku kehmom-o nona-o-ku life-ABSTRACT children-INAN 1PL-INAN-ABSTRACT the life of our children

The same construction is used for apposition: kehmeyes kehsopos nos kehmeye-s kehsopo-s no-s king-PL predecessor-PL 1S-PL kings, my predecessors

Adjectives follow the noun they modify; in this case, the person/number suffix affixes to the adjective:

kehyeyep kehyeye-p lord-3

kehyeye wamip kehyeye wami-p lord great-3 great lord

The superlative is treated with the same possessum-possessor construction, but in the case the adjective precedes the noun and requires the nominalizing suffix /-p/.

wamip kehtisip wami-p kehti-s-i-p great-3 god-PL-V-3 greatest of the gods

Pronouns

Animate pronouns in Ulok display three persons, two numbers, and two cases. Plural number is indicated by forms ending in -na, and accusative case by a prefix /i-/. The inanimate pronoun has a case but not a number distinction. The relative pronoun has a case but not a number distinction; its nominative and accusative forms are suppletive.

Case Nominative Accusative 1s No Ino 2s To Ito 3s Pe Ipe 1p Nona Inona 2p Tona Itona 3p Pena Ipena Inanimate Ke Ike who(m) Wini Oku

Borrowings

Ulok and Siye have borrowed much vocabulary from the other in the last two millennia, providing valuable evidence of diachronic changes. In some cases, this has resulted in opposite meanings of mutual borrowings: for example /yete-/ and /lomo-/ mean 'fruit' and 'jam' respectively in Siye, but the reverse in Ulok! In other cases, the interaction created a new word: the old Siye word for 'to engage in commerce' was /apom/, that of Ulok /itam/, but in the late 22nd century both use /atom/. Siye borrowings from Ulok ignore the difference of high vs. low tone, while Ulok borrowings from Siye convert the first nasal syllable in a Siye word into the first low tone of the new loanword. Thus the Siye title /kumayam/ is borrowed as /Umayah/.

Verbs

Uloti- “to pray”, semo- “to do”

Conjugation I Ulok verbs decline for number and person. The singular forms affix the appropriate suffix. The plural forms use a base suffix -l- (derived from the first singular?). The first plural suffixes -a to the base; the second plural suffixes -s from the second person singular and provides the appropriate epenthetic vowel; the third plural affixes -u to the base. An alternate explanation is the infixation of -l- between the verb root and the singular suffixes for the second and third person plural forms. This theory, however, runs against the generality of suffixation in Ulok.

Conjugation I Connjugation I To pray To do 1s Ulotil Semol 2s Ulotis Semos 3s Ulotiu Semou 1p Ulotila Semola 2p Ulotilis Semolos 3p Ulotilu Semolu

The participles form the stems for the forms in Conjugations II and III. The perfect participle is formed by suffixing -n to the verb root, while the imperfective is forms by suffixing -k to the verb root. Thus the verb roots /uloti-/ and /semo-/ produce perfective /ulotin/ and /semon/ and imperfective /ulotik/ or /semok/.

Conjugations II and III are formed by suffixing the animate nominal endings to the perfective and imperfective participles, respectively, and inserting the appropriate epenthetic vowel.

Conjugation II (Perfective Participle +Nominal Endings) 1s Ulotinin Semonon 2s Ulotinit Semonot 3s Ulotinip Semonop p Ulotinis Semonos

Conjugation III (Imperfective Participle + Nominal Endings) 1s Ulotikin Semokon 2s Ulotikit Semokot 3s Ulotikip Semokop p Ulotikis Semokos

Other forms of the Ulok verb include the perfective participle followed by the auxiliary verb /ne-/ with nominal suffixes (ulotin nen, net, etc.) and the imperfective participle in a similar construction (ulotik nen, net, etc.). Imperfective + ne- is used in durative, intensive, or volitional statements.

The optative mood is formed by suffixing -li to the Conjugation I verb root or to the Conjugation II (but not Conjugation III!) verb stem (ulotili, ulotinili).

The imperative forms are identical to the Conjugation I second singular forms (ulotis, semos). There is no separate plural form.

The prohibitive mood is formed by second person Conjugation III form preceded by the negative participle /eme/ (eme ulotikit, eme semokot).

The suffix -ipo- nominalizes a verb or verb phrases. The verb of the clause suffixes a gender agreement suffix before the nominalizing suffix if the head noun of the clause is a core constituent, but omits it if it is not. ulotik kek semolukipo uloti-k ke-k semo-lu-k-ipo temple-INAN DEM-INAN do-3PL-INAN-NMLZER the temple which they built

meyeku kep umou > meyeku kep umouipo meye-ku ke-p umo-u > meyeku ke-p umo-u-ipo reign 3S-3 love-3SG > reign 3S-3 love-3sg-NMLZER he loves the reign > whose reign he loves

Negative Declination

The negative marker /eme-/ declines according to the pattern of the nominal suffixes. It agrees not with the agent, as one might expect from a nominative-accusative language, nor with the patient, as one might expect from an ergative-accusative language, but rather with the topic of the clause.

Ulotik ipena emek semolu. They did not build the temple (they built the shrine). Ulotik ipena emes semolu. They did not build the temple (someone else did)

Animate Inanimate 1s Emen

2s Emet

3s Emep Emek 3p Emes

Syntax

Resumptive Prononouns

Ulok uses resumptive pronouns extensively.

Pe no ike ilesepel Pe no ike ilesepe-l 3S 1S 3INAN.ACC give-1S I gave it to them (lit. to-them I it gave)

pep ehsep nop muwetili pe-p ehsep no-p muweti-li 3S-3 inferior 1S-3 place-OPT May you be under me (lit. him inferior of-me place-you-may)

Postpositions

Postpositions are rare in Ulok, but the most are:

Postposition Meaning oh in so of ih and